|
Wasabi the J posted:Drain update:
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 04:37
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 09:45 |
|
|
During dinner tonight a bunch of outlets in my kitchen and some in my living room went dead. There are two outlets in the group of dead outlets that are GFCI. Neither will click when pushing in the reset / test buttons. One of the GFCI outlets has a green indicator light that's not lit up, the other has no such indicator. I checked the breaker box and none of the circuit breakers tripped. I proceeded to flip the circuit breaker off, then on, for both circuits with no change. I unplugged everything from the affected circuits and flipped the circuit breaker switches with no luck either. I don't feel like shutting off electricity to the whole house at bedtime, so is there anything else I can try before calling an electrician?
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 06:21
|
|
|
kimcicle posted:During dinner tonight a bunch of outlets in my kitchen and some in my living room went dead. There are two outlets in the group of dead outlets that are GFCI. Neither will click when pushing in the reset / test buttons. One of the GFCI outlets has a green indicator light that's not lit up, the other has no such indicator. Yeah, head to the burn your house down thread. In the interim: kill the breaker, on the green-lit GFCI open it up and use a non-contact voltage tester to verify no voltage, unhook the "load" terminals, make sure nothing is touching anything metal it's not supposed to be, and re-energize the outlet. Verify the green light and see if it will reset. If it will, go down the line doing this until you find the one that makes it not reset. No green light you unhooked the wrong wires. Sadly this could be critters in the walls if it's 100% mystery, but pictures in the burn your house down thread will help. It could be as simple as the outlet has decided to fail open (yay) and it's $16 to fix it.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 06:27
|
|
|
HycoCam posted:What is on the under side? The drain? It goes 90° pretty much immediately. Worst part is when I accidentally pushed the drain plug wrench through the grate/cross, the drat piece got pushed out of reach of my tools.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 08:40
|
|
|
I should have asked better.  Are we looking at sink or a bathtub drain? If it is a sink drain, there should be a nut under the sink. If that is a sink--you just need to keep the drain flange from spinning while you loosen the nut. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vtrvc05dmXU&t=29s) If we are looking at tub drain, you are going to need an drain extractor/internal pipe wrench. Something like: https://www.homedepot.com/p/Husky-Tub-Drain-Extractor-65255/205930888 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UO-bZF4L1HE&t=65s) If you have propane torch that doesn't go out when you point it down, you can heat the flange just a bit to loosen things. But don't be turning it colors from the heat--hot enough to sizzle a bit of skin, not hot enough to glow.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 09:33
|
|
|
kimcicle posted:During dinner tonight a bunch of outlets in my kitchen and some in my living room went dead. There are two outlets in the group of dead outlets that are GFCI. Neither will click when pushing in the reset / test buttons. One of the GFCI outlets has a green indicator light that's not lit up, the other has no such indicator. I had an apartment one time that had to have the GFCI outlets reset in a particular order. Not sure if they were installed correctly in the first place.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 12:25
|
|
|
Wasabi the J posted:Drain update: This thing: http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/s...cwPiw#store=143
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 13:21
|
|
|
Another lead related question. The lead paint in question is in window frames. What kind of contractor should i contact to safely remove the flakey parts and paint over / encapsulate the rest? A painter? I looked up "lead abatement" and all the results I got were big time contractors who only do big projects. I just have a few windows  I've also considered renting a HEPA shop vac, taping up some hella plastic dropcloth, using a box fan to push air out the window, wearing a respirator (have one), and doing it myself. Any thoughts? It's only some of it that really needs to be scraped away, the rest of it just needs to be painted over.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 14:24
|
|
|
alnilam posted:Another lead related question. The lead paint in question is in window frames. What kind of contractor should i contact to safely remove the flakey parts and paint over / encapsulate the rest? A painter? I looked up "lead abatement" and all the results I got were big time contractors who only do big projects. I just have a few windows Could probably just go to the home despot and pick up one of the paint scrapers with the shop vac attachment and skip the respirator etc. I've used one for dry wall sanding and there is zero dust/debris. Don't you also need to paint on some sort of encapsulation barrier/primer before painting?
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 15:38
|
|
|
Super 3 posted:Could probably just go to the home despot and pick up one of the paint scrapers with the shop vac attachment and skip the respirator etc. I've used one for dry wall sanding and there is zero dust/debris. Hell yeah, this is the kind of knowledge I come to the something awful dot com comedy forums for. I looked it up and yeah you can go over even flakey paint with special lead barrier primer that is very elastic to contain the lead stuff. Also thanks for the tip on the special paint scraper vacuum. I'll probably still take extra precautions but that will be better than a putty knife and regular shop vac.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 16:06
|
|
|
Thinking about it I would probably make sure I was using a vac bag with the shop vac too so when I opened and dumped it so I wouldn't get a face full of atomized lead.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 16:23
|
|
|
H110Hawk posted:Yeah, head to the burn your house down thread. In the interim: kill the breaker, on the green-lit GFCI open it up and use a non-contact voltage tester to verify no voltage, unhook the "load" terminals, make sure nothing is touching anything metal it's not supposed to be, and re-energize the outlet. Verify the green light and see if it will reset. If it will, go down the line doing this until you find the one that makes it not reset. No green light you unhooked the wrong wires. Thanks, this actually did it. The downstream GFCI was no longer resetting, and it looked pretty old, so I replaced it with a new one. Everything clicked back on afterwards.
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 20:22
|
|
|
For some time Lowe’s has had the reputation of being more customer friendly, specifically more female friendly than Home Depot. Well, I went to one today for the first time in a long time and it’s a wasteland. I had to wait nearly 10 minutes before someone would see me since there were hardly any employees. There were hardly any customers either and home installation services are at least 3 days out. Woof. Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 23:48 on Feb 27, 2018 |
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 21:24
|
|
|
Josh Lyman posted:specifically more female friendly than Home Depot Wait what?
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 21:54
|
|
|
The Dave posted:Wait what? That whole thing reads like an unsourced quote
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 22:08
|
|
|
The Dave posted:Wait what? "I've heard for years that Lowe's is the home-improvement store for women. It's known for its more "female-friendly" atmosphere, compared with Home Depot's more contractor-oriented culture." https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/business/2003/08/03/boy-depot-vs-j-lowes/5d16c0a0-0223-4d4a-adb3-49be9420cc31/?utm_term=.bb85b658449c "Upon closer inspection, though, it’s apparent that Lowe’s most loyal customers are consistently dominated by females, while Home Depot maintains a more even mix of shoppers." https://www.forbes.com/sites/prospernow/2013/04/15/if-lowes-wants-to-get-serious-about-home-depot-itll-have-to-man-up/#25867f9e7ab1 "I went into both stores and came out surprised at how much Lowe’s understands women and what they want from a home improvement store." https://brogan.com/blog/lowes-knows-women Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 23:20 on Feb 27, 2018 |
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 23:18
|
|
|
A whole 1 minutes???
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 23:26
|
|
|
I guess it’s the seed packet display at the entrance Or maybe the hot dog stand at the exit
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 23:33
|
|
|
HEY NONG MAN posted:A whole 1 minutes??? 
|
|
#
?
Feb 27, 2018 23:49
|
|
|
I'm replacing the fan in our bathroom and after disconnecting the old unit and pulling the box down, I found that what I thought was a 3" duct to the outside was just long enough to get above the insulation in the attic and was venting into open space up there there. Is this common practice/acceptable?
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 03:54
|
|
|
Koryk posted:I'm replacing the fan in our bathroom and after disconnecting the old unit and pulling the box down, I found that what I thought was a 3" duct to the outside was just long enough to get above the insulation in the attic and was venting into open space up there there. Is this common practice/acceptable? Common yes, good idea no.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 03:55
|
|
|
You're dumping a lot of hot, humid air into a nominally-ventilated space that may not always have good airflow. You really want that thing actually venting to the outdoors.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 04:01
|
|
|
Figures, nothing's ever easy when you want to do it right.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 04:06
|
|
|
TheGreasyStrangler posted:I guess it’s the seed packet display at the entrance
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 04:51
|
|
|
Lowes is a magical place. If I'm there just to pick up a few specific items, I'm swarmed by wannabe mall cops hoping they're going to catch me stuffing a 2x4 into my pocket and try to sneak out with it. But if I need help? The place is a ghost town, haunted by the other damned spirits looking for the one teenager on shift that day, while the PA constantly pages for people to respond to unmanned stations throughout the store.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 17:58
|
|
|
CzarChasm posted:Lowes is a magical place. If I'm there just to pick up a few specific items, I'm swarmed by wannabe mall cops hoping they're going to catch me stuffing a 2x4 into my pocket and try to sneak out with it. But if I need help? The place is a ghost town, haunted by the other damned spirits looking for the one teenager on shift that day, while the PA constantly pages for people to respond to unmanned stations throughout the store. This is generally my experience. Home Despot employees seem to be more available, and also have a more fun attitude about hacky fixes. I've also had multiple HD employees encourage me to just buy a tool i need for one day, use it, and return it lol. My friend bought an entire table saw and returned it a week later, on HD employees' advice.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 18:03
|
|
|
My Home Depot is full of tradesmen injured or aged out of their field. I feel bad for them, but the former commercial electrician in a wheelchair is pretty easy to chase down with questions. Lowes just feels like walmart.
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 18:09
|
|
|
HD is not always easy if you go at a busy time, but if you find those one or two dudes who look like they worked on This Old House and have a thick northeastern accent, you’re golden as gently caress. There’s a couple older ladies at the one near mine that know their poo poo to an impeccable degree. This makes me happy. I’ve been in a Lowe’s twice in the last year and one time the power failed in the building. Darkness, and total silence. loving creep show!
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 21:55
|
|
|
I've heard that Lowe's treats employees better than Home Depot, but I'm not sure what that's based on.Super 3 posted:Thinking about it I would probably make sure I was using a vac bag with the shop vac too so when I opened and dumped it so I wouldn't get a face full of atomized lead. Koryk posted:I'm replacing the fan in our bathroom and after disconnecting the old unit and pulling the box down, I found that what I thought was a 3" duct to the outside was just long enough to get above the insulation in the attic and was venting into open space up there there. Is this common practice/acceptable?
|
|
#
?
Feb 28, 2018 23:43
|
|
|
Josh Lyman posted:"I went into both stores and came out surprised at how much Lowe’s understands women and what they want from a home improvement store." I read this article and the key factors the author mentions are that the cleaning supplies are prominent, the signs have hearts on them and one of the clerks complimented her shoes so I'm convinced it's a troll I haven't really been all that impressed with the staff at either Lowes or Home Depot in my city. Both seem utterly devoid of personnel outside the appliances and paint sections.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2018 00:43
|
|
|
TheGreasyStrangler posted:I read this article and the key factors the author mentions are that the cleaning supplies are prominent, the signs have hearts on them and one of the clerks complimented her shoes so I'm convinced it's a troll
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2018 06:01
|
|
|
I just discovered something is leaking underneath the flooring in my downstairs bathroom. I've pulled up the flooring and can see this: https://imgur.com/a/eHuMp What is that pipe-segment looking deal and why is it flooding my bathroom floor? Whatever is on the top isn't fixed in place, it shifts if I poke at it. The other side of that wall is outside the front of my house, the pipe-thing itself is underneath a little wooden shelf thing that I guess is hiding some pipes. Help me I'm too stupid to be a homeowner
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2018 12:56
|
|
|
There's a tank of nitrogen gas (not liquid nitrogen, if that matters) that's strapped to a telephone pole outside my house for about a month now...I'm wondering what it's there for. Here's a photo that's a lot blurrier than it looked on my phone:  Edit: Read up on it, looks like it';s there to purge the telephone/cable/fiber lines of air/moisture after repairs and whatnot are done. Not sure why it's been there so long, though. V V V I'm sure I have seen them, but never really noticed or paid attention until one was right outside my house. V V V DrBouvenstein fucked around with this message at 18:19 on Mar 1, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2018 18:04
|
|
|
DrBouvenstein posted:There's a tank of nitrogen gas (not liquid nitrogen, if that matters) that's strapped to a telephone pole outside my house for about a month now...I'm wondering what it's there for. Have you never seen those around before? They leave them there so it's handy for workers. No one is going to steal them.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2018 18:08
|
|
|
History Comes Inside! posted:I just discovered something is leaking underneath the flooring in my downstairs bathroom. I've pulled up the flooring and can see this: Remove the little wooden shelf thing and take another picture.
|
|
#
?
Mar 1, 2018 18:54
|
|
|
quote:https://imgur.com/a/eHuMp A poorly capped drain? Your sewer cleanout? Some kind of pit for your weeping tile or an old sump pit? I dunno. It’s awfully close to the edge of the wall. Is that drywall with studs against a concrete wall? You might have to cut the wall open. Edit: never mind, you said shelf. Get the shelf out of there. The longer the water is sitting around the more mold you’re gonna have to worry about. Spagghentleman fucked around with this message at 00:47 on Mar 2, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2018 00:44
|
|
|
Thanks everyone for your help with the water heater replacement. Costco wasn't the cheapest option, but the $1495 included permitting costs, we got a new expansion tank, drain pan, a 50 gal/40,000 btu AO Smith, they replaced all the flextube water lines with copper piping, and we got a new gas line. Once you factor all that in, it was probably within $200 of a "cheaper" option. A nice bonus is the contractor is the largest HVAC/plumbing company in Atlanta, so we have them and Costco backing the work (though it won't matter since we're selling the house in August). (On a side note, Home Depot was a total bust. Their contractor scheduled a 4 hour arrival window, called 3.5 hours in to say nobody was available but they would still come, then called an hour after to say nobody was coming that day. When they asked to reschedule, they refused to even give a ballpark estimate of the cost saying only the on-site person would know, but I finally plied out of them that their labor starts at $499. A 50 gal Rheem from HD is $560 after tax, plus $130 for permitting, plus materials and you’re basically at Costco) I'd like to return to the matter of the P-trap leak from the upstairs bathtub. When the plumber was here installing the water heater, he took a quick look and thought it was a simple clog. However, the bathtub drain has a grate (like a plus sign) which blocked his drain snake. When I suggested removing the cleanout cover as suggested earlier ITT, he said that was a bad idea; I believe the cleanout cover is caulked. He said that I could use a $6 tool from Home Depot to clear the clog, but this is the only one that might be long enough and even then I'm not sure how it would go down, over, then down again to reach the trap.  We've tried 2 applications of Drano to no avail. As far as the source of the leak, we've confirmed it's coming from the top of the P-trap where it connects to a narrower pipe—it effectively overflows. Thoughts? Josh Lyman fucked around with this message at 10:54 on Mar 2, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2018 09:40
|
|
|
Josh Lyman posted:When I suggested removing the cleanout cover as suggested earlier ITT, he said that was a bad idea; I believe the cleanout cover is caulked. Caulk is well known for the fact that it cannot ever be removed. You should probably burn down your house and start again. When I snake my bathtub, I remove the overflow + lever and snake from there (not down the drain). Is that an option for you?
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2018 14:42
|
|
|
Yeah, that is some wild, old, soldered-in cast waste lines that you have, there. The issue with snaking it is that you also have a drain shoe between the tub and the trap, which makes it very difficult to get any meaningful snake action down to the trap. Also, I doubt that the trap has ever been opened & cleaned, so you have some Olympic-class crud in there. Who knows, maybe even a class ring or something! Fixing a leak at the joint between the copper and the cast is going to be a bitch, mostly because of the location - you’re right up against the subfloor. Your plumber is correct about removing the clean out - that looks like a side-mount cap that is going to be nearly impossible to remove without damaging it and/or the trap...I did it once, with a welding kit because trying to get substantial heat on it when there’s water behind it acting as a heat sink is hideously difficult and the resulting smell can knock a buzzard off a shitwagon. I did a 4” whole-house trap once (it was full of Q-Tips) and it was easier just to cut out the entire enchilada and Fernco in PVC. Which is what I would suggest here. The whole thing looks like a poo poo sandwich from your photo: tight working conditions, a wye to the sink just downstream, and I can't tell what is beyond that wye or if you have clear access to it... In the short-term, you can try to clean out the seam where the leak is coming from and goop in a ton of silicone to at least stop the leak. It won’t hold for long, but it will give you some time to plan a permanent solution. You could have a go at removing the clean-out cap, but I’d start at 4am on a a Saturday and be prepared for catastrophic failure (i.e. pre-purchase your Fernco fittings, PVC, saw blades, hand grenades, etc). If you get lucky, use the return money for champagne...though you’ll still have to deal with that leaky solder joint. I love cast-iron; it’s durable and quiet - but truly hate it in these terminal applications. Best for main traffic lines, then transition to copper or PVC for the final runs to fixtures, 2-1/2” or less. What’s the work area like (standing room in basement, or are you in a crawlspace?) and what’s beyond the right frame of the picture (core are run to the toilet/stack, or is it all super-tight?) PainterofCrap fucked around with this message at 14:55 on Mar 2, 2018 |
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2018 14:44
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 17, 2024 09:45 |
|
|
What do you guys think of the sulfuric acid drain cleaners? I've had luck with them for some drains that otherwise would've had to be cut open directly above mission/safety critical electrical equipment but I've also heard they can eat the pipes
|
|
#
?
Mar 2, 2018 15:06
|
|
